Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 10:04am Subject: Re: What do you think of this setup?

350 dollar refurb saeco sounds like a superautomatic(odea or vienna plus?). superautomatic is not the way to go for high quality espresso.

the type that Rob mentioned is a semi-automatic where you have to do the work. With an upressurized portafilter, my results with a Saeco Via Venezia(coupled with a mazzer super jolly) are typically as good or better than most cafes around me. Frothing milk does suck pretty badly, though.

Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 10:33am Subject: Re: What do you think of this setup?

frank828 Said:

350 dollar refurb saeco sounds like a superautomatic(odea or vienna plus?). superautomatic is not the way to go for high quality espresso.

the type that Rob mentioned is a semi-automatic where you have to do the work. With an upressurized portafilter, my results with a Saeco Via Venezia(coupled with a mazzer super jolly) are typically as good or better than most cafes around me. Frothing milk does suck pretty badly, though.

Was wondering that too, a $350 refurb Saeco had to of been an superautomatic, as their most expensive Saeco semi is like 300 for the Venezia "new". I don't even like high end superautomatics, so could imagine how sucky the low end ones are.

Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 10:55am Subject: Re: What do you think of this setup?

The cheapest alternative "espresso machine" that I know of is the Mypressi.

It's a little more than the handpresso, but in the comparisons I found on the internet the mypressi was liked better.

I have one, and it does have a couple of drawbacks. You need to preheat it, so it takes more work than a traditional machine. You need to buy NO2 cartridges, you get about 4 shots from a cartridge, so there is a cost per shot.

But, it can make "real" espresso, not what you would get from a moka pot.

I use my traditional machine because of the drawbacks listed above, but I never had any issues with the shots I pulled with it.

What Saeco? Sounds like you had a superautomatic especially at a 350 refurb price, superautomatics are mehhh even high end so wouldn't be surprised if you had a bad experience with a low end one. The highest price semi Saeco Seattle Coffee Gear carries is the Venezia which is just under 300 new, so if you had a Saeco refurb at 350 had to of been an super-automatic.

The Venezia, Classic etc are semi-auto machines, much better. You have a Vario which your set there as that's an great grinder.

Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 12:00pm Subject: Re: What do you think of this setup?

If there is a costco business by you, they are 60 cents, boxes of 24 for $14.62Click Here (www.costco.com)|11113|77735|77739|11594&N=4037742&Mo=7&No=7&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BD_564&cat=11594&Browse=1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&hierPath=11113*77735*77739*11594*&topnav=bdoff

I remember paying 50 cents per a little while ago, so price went up a little.

You can find them on the internet too, but after you factor in shipping, costco (if local) was the best price.

So, 15 cents a shot, maybe as much as 25 cents if you have to pay more for the cartridges.

Preheating is just pouring in hot water. To pull a shot, you need to fill the thing with hot water, but if you just fill it with hot water once, and pull the shot, the water will be too cold.

I would actually do it twice, where I boiled water, filled the mypressi, dumped the water out, filled and dumped again, then fillled and pulled the shot.

You need to heat up the mypressi, so that when you put in the water to actually pull the shot with, it doesn't cool down to much.

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